Participants

Joseph Kertes was born in Hungary but escaped with his family to Canada after the 1956 revolution. He studied English at York University and the University of Toronto. He founded Humber College's distinguished creative writing and comedy programs and served as Dean of the Humber’s Creative and Performing Arts. His first novel, Winter Tulips, won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. Gratitude won a Canadian National Jewish Book Award and the U.S. National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His latest novel, The Afterlife of Stars, has been described by Anne Michaels as “unforgettable and deeply moving.”

Laila Lalami was born and raised in Morocco. She is currently an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California at Riverside, and her work has appeared in numerous publications, including TheNew York Times and Newsweek. She is the recipient of a British Council Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship and a Lannan Foundation Residency Fellowship. Lalami presents The Moor’s Account, a sweeping historical saga of a young man’s journey from successful merchant to slave to triumphant survivor.

Eimear McBride is a critically acclaimed debut novelist from Ireland. She is presenting her first novel, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, which won the2013 Goldsmith’s Prize and the 2014 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. The novel explores a young woman’s relationship with her brother, the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour and her sexual awakening, all told in a steam-of-consciousness style that drops the reader directly into the protagonist’s mind.

Nathan Whitlock’s award-winning fiction and non-fiction has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, Toronto Life, Report on Business, Flare, Fashion, Geist, Maisonneuve and Best Canadian Essays. He is a contributing editor for Quill & Quire. Congratulation on Everything is a story of ambition, failure, sex, and the service industry. Whitlock lives in Toronto with his wife and children.

Kathleen Winter's debut novel, Annabel, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the three biggest fiction prizes in Canada. It won the Thomas Head Raddall Fiction Award and an Independent Literary Award, and was a 2014 Canada Reads selection. Her first story collection, boYs, also won numerous Canadian awards. Winter presents her first work of non-fiction, Boundless, which was recently shortlisted for the 2015 RBC Taylor Prize. It is both a travel journal and a meditation on Canada's relationship with the North and the people who call it home.

Event Navigator

Use this event navigator widget to look at events in a specific month or day.